Bid to rescue trapped Welsh miners fails

Divers who entered a flooded Welsh mine to help free four trapped miners have
been forced to return above ground.

Specialist divers went into the Gleision Colliery near Cilybebyll, Pontardawe in the Swansea Valley, where the men have been trapped since yesterday morning, but had to abandon their efforts after about 30 metres.

But rescuers remain optimistic about the welfare of the miners, named by South Wales Police as Phillip Hill, 45, from Neath, Charles Bresnan, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all from the Swansea Valley.

Gary Evans of the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team said: "We brought in some divers to see whether it was possible to go through and speed things up.

"They went into the water to see whether any progress could be made that way, and they went about 20 to 30 metres, but they weren't able to go any further."

Rescuers had hoped the divers could assess the situation before all the water had been pumped out, but debris had made the water murky, he explained.